Thursday, October 8, 2009

FFB: Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks

I have been meaning to write about Hicksville as a friday forgotten book for a while.

It is a graphic novel that tells the story of: "World-famous cartoonist Dick Burger has earned millions and become the most powerful man in the comics industry in the few short years since the publication of his first Captain Tomorrow graphic novel. But behind this rapid rise to success there lies a dark and terrible secret, as biographer Leonard Batts discovers when he visits Burger's hometown in remote New Zealand. For Hicksville is no ordinary small town. In Hicksville sheep-farmers and fishermen argue the relative merits of early newspaper strips, while in the local bookshop and lending library obscure Mongolian minicomics share the shelves with a complete run of Action Comics. But why does everyone there seem to hate Dick Burger? And what is the secret of Kupe's Lighthouse? Weaving together real and imagined histories of the much-maligned medium of comics and the often marginalised country of New Zealand, Hicksville is a moving comment on art, business and the importance of turangawaewae - finding a place to stand... " (descrpition from the Hickville Website)

I discovered the book via the WEF (The Warren Ellis Forum) back around the turn of the century. Old Man Ellis was one of the many champions of the book, and so am I. Not only is it an entertaining and engaging, but it made me think about the culture that sorrounds comics and what role I as a reader and fan play in that culture. The book is very much a reaction to the celebrity of comic creators and the fascism of fanboys. It's a great story and well worth spending an afternoon with. The TPB looks to be currently out of print, but your local comic shop should have copies. A new edition has been promised for the near future. I should also mention the follow up series Atlas (which has had all of three issues in the span of almost a decade), which is a related book (sorry it's been so long since I read the last issue that I really don't remember how it is related)

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About Me

Quote City

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."- attributed to Hunter S. Thompson

“I never knew there was a class system in America until I moved to Ann ArborMichigan. This town was populated – dominated might be a better word- by rich, spoiled college students. I can see how Liverpool gave us the Beatles, but I’ll never understand how Ann Arbor gave us Iggy and the Stooges.”-Dee Dee Ramone, Lobotomy: surviving the Ramones. P. 255

You know, every day I get out of bed and drag myself to the next cup of coffee. I take a sip and the caffeine kicks in, I can focus my eyes again, my brain starts to order the day. I'm up, I'm alive. I'm ready to rock. The time is coming when I wake up and decide I'm not getting out of bed. I'm not getting up for coffee or food or sex. If it comes to me, fine; if it won't, fine. No more expectations. The longer I live the less I know. I should know more. I should know that coffee's killing me. You're suspicious of your suspicions? I'm jealous, Kay. I'm so jealous. You still have the heart to have doubts? Me, I'm going to lock up a fourteen-year-old kid for what could be the rest of his natural life. I gotta do this; this is my job. This is the deal, this is the law, this is my day. I have no doubts or suspicions anymore. Heart has nothing to do with it anymore. Its all in the caffeine.